Nowadays it is common knowledge that cells make up the biological structure of all living things. We also know today that a large percentage of the cell is composed of water.

The importance of water was revealed by God in the Quran over 1400 years ago.

"...We made from water every living thing..." (The Quran - Al-Anbiya 21:30)

FUNCTION OF PREFRONTAL AREA OF THE BRAIN

"No indeed! If he does not stop, We will grab him by the forelock, - A lying, sinful forelock." (The Quran - Al-Alaq 96:15-16)

God will take the disobedient person physically by the symbol of dignity, the Naseyah (which means - front of the head or forelock), and subject him to a humiliating punishment. The front of the head is then described as lying and sinful. In regards to this, it is interesting to know that the frontal area of the brain, known as the prefrontal cortex, is involved in planning and initiating behaviour (good and bad) and plays a role in relation to moral conduct such as speaking truth or falsehood (Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology, Seeley, p.211: Medical Physiology, Guyton, p.656).

Scientists started to discover the functions of the prefrontal area in the 1930's, but the Creator gave us a clue to its' function in the Quran over 1400 years ago. This further emphasises the fact that no human being could have written the Quran, as the technology was not available at the time of revelation to know these facts.

Functional regions of the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex. The prefrontal area is located at the front of the cerebral cortex. (Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology, Seeley and others, p. 210.)

PRESENCE OF SENSORY NERVES IN THE SKIN

Modern scientific research has shown that pain and heat sensitive nerve endings are widespread in the superficial layers of the skin, but most of the deep tissues are only weakly supplied (Medical Physiology, A.C. Guyton, p.593). It is also known that if the skin is burnt completely then these nerve endings can be destroyed.

Over 1400 years ago the Quran provided an insight into pain physiology, by indicating that if the skin is burnt through then its' sensitivity to pain is reduced.

"As for those who reject Our signs, We shall expose them to the Fire. Every time their skins are burned off, We will replace them with new skins so that they may taste the torment. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise." (The Quran - Al-Nisa 4:56)

The above verse indicates a clear relationship between feeling pain and having an intact skin. Intense burns causes the skin and nerve endings to be destroyed, so replacing the skin by new skin maintains the intensity of the punishment. Science has only recently discovered that the skin contains most of the pain sensitive nerve endings. This level of knowledge regarding skin physiology was simply not known at the time the Quran was revealed over 1400 years ago. Modern scientific knowledge therefore, allows us to understand certain verses of the Quran which until now, it has been impossible to fully interpret.

FINGERPRINTS

Fingerprints are specific to every individual and were first used in Argentina in the 1890's to solve crime (The Macmillan Encyclopaedia p.445). God says in the Quran:

"No! I swear by the Day of Rising! No! I swear by the self-reproaching soul. Does Mankind think that We shall not re-assemble his bones? Yes indeed! We are able to restore his very fingertips."
(The Quran - Al-Qiyama 75:1-4)

The Quran addresses those who say; when we die and turn to dust, how can God resurrect us? God informs us that not only can He bring together our bones, but He can even reconstruct specific features such as the finger tips. This verse is all the more remarkable when one considers the fact that the finger tip is the place which houses a mark unique to each individual, i.e. the fingerprint.

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN ANTS

Consider the following Quranic verse:

"...an ant said 'Ants! Enter your dwellings so that Sulayman and his troops do not crush you unwittingly.'" (The Quran - Al-Naml 27:18)

In the past, some people would have probably mocked at the Quran, in which ants talk to each other and communicate sophisticated messages. However, recent research has revealed that ant colonies can have complex divisions of labour, whereby they have managers, supervisors, foremen, workers and even soldiers. And as revealed in the Quran over fourteen centuries ago, ants also communicate with each other.

THE BEE

It used to be assumed that worker bees were male soldiers and answered to a king. In 1637 however, Richard Remnant discovered that worker bees were in fact females. (Richard Remnant; A Discourse of Historie of Bees, London: Printed by R. Young for T. Slater, 1637).

Over one thousand years before this discovery, during the 7th century when the Quran was revealed to the last Prophet and Messenger Muhammmad (PBUH), God had already mentioned this fact. The Quran uses a female word when describing the bee (Arabic words can have male or female genders). We know that the Quran is referring to the worker bee, because the bee is said to leave its' home to gather food.

"Your Lord inspired the bees by saying: 'build dwellings in the hills, in trees and also in the structures which men erect. Then eat every kind of fruits and travel the paths of your Lord'..." (The Quran - An-Nahl 16:68-69)

WIND POLLINATION

Between 1760 and 1766 Joseph Koelreuter carried out various plant breeding experiments. During this period he was the first western scientists to discover the role played by wind in flower pollination. However, many centuries before this, Muslims were already aware of this fact as it had been revealed in the Quran.

"We (Allah) send the pollinating winds" (The Quran - Al-Hijr 15:22)

The Quran is not a book of science but a book of "signs" i.e. verses. There are more than six thousand "signs" in the Quran of which more than one thousand deal with science. If the Quran is so accurate about matters of science that we can now measure, and this before man's ability to do so, does it not stand to reason that it must be from a source possessing knowledge far beyond our own?